Movie Review: DCU: Son of Batman

You wanted it and now it’s here! This week the new Warner Bros. Animation film “Son of Batman” hit store shelves. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the new DC Animated Universe, back in February DC put out a film called “Justice League: War”. It would be the first film in this interconnected continuity of the DC animated universe. Essentially it is an animated version of what all of the studios are trying to do with live action, big budget productions. While Marvel may be killing it with their live action cinematic universe, the domain of animation has always been DC’s strong suit.

In “Son of Batman” the Dark Knight learns that he had an illegitimate child with Talia Al Ghul, named Damian. After the League of Assassin’s is attacked by Deathstroke and his goons, Talia drops Damian into the custody of Batman and she goes off to seek revenge. She isn’t the only one seeking vengeance though. Damian, the young son of Batman who was trained by the League of Assassin’s is also on the hunt for Deathstroke. Batman now must teach his blood-thirsty son that killing isn’t the only way to achieve justice. A few other key members of the Bat family are also introduced in this film including Alfred and Nightwing.

Son of Batman is a very interesting look at how Batman handles becoming a father overnight. It’s also interesting to see how Damian struggles with new rules and eventually donning the role of Robin. Damian and Bruce both experienced a similar tragedy in their childhoods and while Bruce Wayne eventually turned his pain into something positive, Damian has been trained to kill since birth. Combat and killing is everything he knows. The conflicting views between father and son is fascinating to see unfold.

The combat in this movie is awesome. You’ll get to see some awesome sword fights, as well as ninja action. Of course you’ll also get to see Batman in plenty of action using some of his signature gadgets. Be warned that there is a fair amount of blood in this movie. While this is an animated movie about Batman, the film is intended for an older audience. The movie is funny when it needs to be. It isn’t a depression fest the entire time, but it also maintains the dark tone that you’d expect from a Batman adventure.

For those of you who were fans of this story in the comic books, you may be disappointed. This movie only features basic plot elements from the story arc. For those of you who have seen this movie and want to learn a little more about Damian, I suggest reading the source material. Also I still think Kevin Conroy is the ultimate voice of Batman, but Jason O’Mara is a pretty great alternative in this. I think most of the cast did a convincing job at bringing these characters to life. I wasn’t thrilled with Thomas Gibson’s job as Deathstroke, but I wasn’t horrified either.

A problem I had with this movie is that I was really expecting it to fall in line with what happened in the comics, but it moved away from a lot of what made that story great. Perhaps we’ll some more of that in the future, and ultimately it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the movie too much. Hardcore Batman fans are a hard bunch to make happy, and if you think you fall under that umbrella, I don’t think you’ll be very happy with this. Perhaps you will though!

Other problems I had with the film is that the premise didn’t come off very well. For example, I know Batman is supposed to have ironclad mental stability, but his reaction to finding out he had a son was less than dramatic. Also the relationship between the two characters didn’t seem like it changed very much throughout the film. Just a whole lot of bitterness culminating in a pretty simple understanding. Hopefully they develop this in the future.

Overall, pretty great movie. I’m happy I was the one who got to review this on because I’ve been anxiously awaiting it for some time! While I was happy it steered away from the comics to a degree, I wish it borrowed a few more elements. Take it for what it’s worth though. It’s very entertaining to watch and it’s great to see this animated universe going ahead full-steam. The action was excellent and the characters were interesting. If you’re a fan of Batman, you should really check this one out!